I believe we’re in the final throes of the superhero movie craze. The third Chris Nolan Batman film, X-Men:First Class, and another Kick Ass (but Chloe Moretz will be too old for the part) is all that’s left to see. Though a Chris Nolan produced Superman is intriguing.
I have absolutely no interest in seeing Thor or the Green Lantern, but the similarity between the two films fascinate me. They’re both 2nd tier in the DC and Marvel pantheon of characters (though some would disagree), and they seem like two of the more difficult stories to bring to the screen.
But judging from the trailers I’ve seen of both films, Thor is gonna kick Green Lantern’s ass! Better cast (Nat. P, Idris Elba, Hannibal Lecter), better trailer (below), and better director (Kenneth Branagh). Plus it’s got fanboys whining over a Black man playing a Norse god!
Final throes of the craze? I doubt it. With superheroes, lazy Hollywood filmmakers don’t have to come up with original plots or characters as everything is ready-made for them. Although, I WOULD pay money to see John Waters bring Steve Ditko’s “The Creeper” to the silver screen. A superhero that wears fashion bikini underwear and a red feather boa has to be good for a few laughs.
Sadly, I was looking forward to “Mars Needs Moms,” being a big fan of Berke Breathed (and realizing it’s not a sequel to “She’s Gotta Have It”). Then I saw the trailers and that they retitled it “DISNEY’S (not Breathed’s) Mars Needs Moms” and created characters that had nothing to do with the original book.
I hate it when Hollywood messes over the works and artists I enjoy. Promise me, Keef, when they get around to filming “The Knight Life,” you’ll make them stay close to the source material so it won’t be directed by Seth Rogan and starring The Situation and Snooki from “Jersey Shore”!
Also, this may be linked to their being “second-tier”, but neither hero intrinsically demands a heckuva lot of acting!
Thor has gotten passed around among better and worse writers, but fundamentally, he’s a Big Ham with a Big Da*n SwordAxe. (And when I say “fundamentally”, that’s going back to the original myths!
Green Lantern too has had his ups and downs, but he started out as “the man without fear” (where’s the tension?), and his powers are so polymorphous as to make for plotting problems.
To clarify on that last: Depending who’s writing him, GL’s powers can be on Superman’s level — the writers have frequently chased him into outer space, mostly to find him some real challenges.
@ Rich B:
It’s not laziness, it’s marketing. Making a movie based off a franchise that already has an established fanbase, whether it’s superheroes or the Brady Bunch, brings with it a guaranteed audience. Priority #1 in movie making is not to create Art, it’s to get the butts in the seats. Any redeeming value beyond that is inconsequential.